What's in a Name?
by HWADOB
Summary: A little over a decade after the events in Journey's End, Rose Tyler and TenToo have a ten-year old daughter, who's just received a D grade in school ...


"River Tyler!" Rose Tyler shouted sternly as her ten year old daughter strolled through the doorway leading to the kitchen.

"Can it wait? I'm a tad busy at the moment," River calmly opened the wooden cabinet doors, her back facing Rose. "Do we have any peanut butter in at the moment?"

Rose stormed over and shut the doors. "No."

"Why not?" River leaned on the doors, and crossed her legs. "Don't tell me, you and Dad had to use it for some Torchwood stuff."

"That's not what I meant. You have a D in Language Arts," Rose looked down at River, her eyes looking stern. But, her gaze seemed to look out the window, seeming like she wasn't convinced what was happening was real. As if she believed that any moment, she'd wake up and the scene that was falling out would be just a bad dream.

"So?" River sounded genuinely confused, but that same tone had been used in defiance against Rose time and time again.

"You have all your assignments in … except for the huge essay about your name."

"Yeah, I have most of them in. My teacher doesn't accept anything a day late though. But what does any of this matter?"

"It matters because you know you're better than this," Rose replied, placing her hands on her hips.

"What?"

"I said it matters because you are better than this."

"What?"

"I said, you're-" Rose repeated, her face beginning to fluster. River had decided to use some of her father's tricks, repeating words until they didn't make sense and all that nonsense that made Rose smile to no end. Usually.

"Wha-" River began, but Rose had now unconsciously balled her hands into fists, shaking a little.

"Just please listen to me for a second," she began, her voice wavering slightly. "Work was frustrating today, so please just-"

"But-"

"Fingers on lips," Rose said as she did just that. River shrugged and followed suit.

"River –" Rose kneeled onto the ground so that she was at River's eye level, and held River's hands in her own. "You are absolutely wonderful and fantastic. The only reason I'm talking to you about this is you have so much potential in this world, in fact in many universes, and it would be a shame to put it off by just one bad grade."

River stared intently across the kitchen, away from her mother's eyes, her own eyes narrowed. After a second, however, River turned her gaze to her mothers, and she loosened up. A wild grin appeared on her face.

"I s'pose you're right," she chuckled slightly.

Rose smiled back at her daughter, then stood back up.

"How about we sit down and just talk about why you didn't want to do your assignment?" she suggested, gesturing to the sofa in the other room.

"I guess," River set herself down, relaxed but still didn't sink into the soft cushions as she usually did. Something was up. "Well, I actually did write a proper essay and everything. I turned it in the right day, and I followed all the requirements."

"Then how on Earth is it showing as a zero?" Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Um," River shifted her weight side to side. "I didn't write it about my real first name."

Rose looked up at the ceiling, took a deep breath in, then looked back at River.

"Then what name did you use?" Rose asked.

"The name everyone calls me. River. I wrote all her, and dad, and everyone else, and the library, and-" River trailed off with glee. Her middle-namesake, River Song, was a huge role model in River Tyler's life, despite the fact she had never met the late professor. Rose couldn't count on her fingertips how many times the name was thrown out in a regular conversation each week.

"Why didn't you use your first name when they said to? It's a lovely first name," Rose questioned, a little exasperated but cheered up by her daughter's enthusiasm.

"Because she's not special," River propped her chin on her hand and leaned to that side. "She didn't do anything real great."

"River," Rose clasped her daughter's hands in her own once more. "She is so very important. I can't think of a thing that woman hasn't done."

"What are those things then?" River challenged, trying to seem sarcastic, but her eyes shone with wonder.

"First of all, she travelled with your dad, met him several times actually. Not many people accomplish that."

"'Kay, quite a few people have travelled with Dad, well, I guess parallel-Dad. Since he's nine hundred something."

"She saved the Earth, and the entire universe."

"So have many others."

Rose was beginning to become weary with her daughter's negative attitude again.

"Listen. If she didn't do what she'd done, I wouldn't be happy. There would only be parallel-Dad. And most importantly," Rose paused to hug her daughter tightly. "You certainly wouldn't be around, -"

"Please don't use it," River asked.

"River Tyler," Rose sighed. "She was – is the most important woman in the whole of creation."

Suddenly, Tentoo opened the door and entered the room. Rose smiled, and then walked up to and kissed him.

"Hello Doctor," she said.

"And hello to you, lovely Rose Tyler. What have you and the amazing Donna River Tyler been up to?"


End file.
